Iron Mountain summit

Last day in California. Flying home tomorrow. A nice, relaxing morning watching a bit of Sunderland v Leicester City in TV.

In the afternoon we tackled Iron Mountain, a 5.5 mile round trip to the summit of one of the 100 San Diego County Peaks. Iron Mountain stands at over 2600 feet with an ascent of around 1000 feet from the car park. A dog friendly hike too, so Babe enjoyed herself too.

Today was not a typical day in Southern California. Gone were the blue skies and warm sunshine, to be replaced by cool winds and masses of dark threatening clouds.

We were fortunate to escape the rain as we drove through a torrential storm on the way from San Marcos and throughout the hike were surrounded by foreboding clouds which added a dimension I've not seen in Southern California.  The views form the top though we're excellent, all the way to San Diego itself in the south to San Marcos in the north, out to Carlsbad in the west and away over rolling mountains to the east, which is where this shot of us was taken.

Then it was time to get the packing done before going out for a meal at a Mexican Restaurant. Pretty good it was too, with endless chips and salsa.

Time to walk the dogs around the block for a last time in the cool of the late evening, then bed.